Ship History
Built by Sasebo Navy Yard in Sasebo. Ordered in the 1939 fiscal year. Laid down November 11, 1941 as an Agano class light cruiser No. 134. On August 20, 1942 named Yahagi 矢矧 for the Yukikaze in Japan. Launched October 25, 1942, at the ceremony is Prince Nobuhito Takamatsu, the younger brother of Emperor Hirohito who represents the Imperial family. Completed and commissioned December 29, 1943 i the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) under the command of Captain Masatake Yoshimura.

Wartime History
On January 1, 1944 departs Sasebo for exercises in Suo Nada area of the Inland Sea. On January 4, 1944 returns to Sasebo and dry docked at Sasebo Navy Yard. On January 6, 1944 conducts Type 21 surface-search radar tests off Sasebo. On January 10, 1944 departs Sasebo and refuels at the 3rd Fuel Depot in Tokuyama Bay. On January 11, 1944 arrives Yashima anchorage and two days later departs for Hashirajima and participates in Inland Sea exercises.

On January 28, 1944 arrives Kure Navy Yard at Kure for the installation of additional anti-aircraft guns for a total of thirty-two 25mm anti-aircraft guns, including eight triple guns and eight single guns. On February 4, 1944 departs Kure via Iwakuni bound for Singapore. On February 5, 1944 arrives Sumoto Bight, Awaji Shima. On February 6, 1944 passes the Kii Suido Strait into the eastern South China Sea, then through the Spratley Islands with carrier SHOKAKU, CruDiv 8's CHIKUMA and DesDiv 10's AKIGUMO and KAZAGUMO and DesDiv 61's HATSUZUKI and WAKATSUKI. On February 13, 1944 arrives Seletar Naval Base on Singapore. On February 18, 1944 departs Singapore and in the afternoon arrives Lingga for exercises over the next three months.

On May 11, 1944 departs Lingga with the First Carrier Striking Force, First Mobile Fleet, Force "A" under the command of Vice Admiral Ozawa with CarDiv 1 aircraft carriers TAIHO, ZUIKAKU and the SHOKAKU, CruDiv 5's MYOKO and HAGURO, DesDiv 10's ASAGUMO, URAKAZE, ISOKAZE and TANIKAZE, DesDiv 22's MINAZUKI and DesDiv 61's HATSUZUKI, WAKATSUKI, AKIZUKI and SHIMOTSUKI. On May 15, 1944 arrives Tawi Tawi and continues training. On June 8, 1944 provisioned by Kitakami Maru.

On June 13, 1944 departs Tawi Tawi with the Mobile Fleet, Force A departs bound for the Mariana Islands but is spotted by USS Redfin (SS-272). On June 14, 1944 refuels off Guimaras with the Main Body from the 2nd Supply Force oilers GENYO Maru and AZUSA Maru. On June 15, 1944 at 8:00am departs Guimaras via the Visayan Sea and San Bernardino Strait then entered the Philippine Sea bound for the Mariana Islands. On June 16, 1944 Forces A and Force B deploy 100 miles behind Vanguard Force "C". On June 18, 1944 Forces A and Force B proceed southward while the Vanguard Force C proceeds due east.

On June 19, 1944 during the Battle of the Philippine Sea. After the sinking of fleet carrier Shōkaku and TAIHO, Yahagi and destroyer URAKAZE, rescues over 100 survivors. On June 20, 1944 withdraws and two days later arrives Nakagusuku Bay off Okinawa to refuel.

On June 23, 1944 departs arriving Hashirajima the next day. Afterwards, to Kure Navy Yard. for drydock and refit and adds two more tripple 25mm AA guns amidships for a total of 48 guns including ten tripple and 18 single. Also added is a Type 13 air-search and a Type 22 surface-search radar.

On July 8, 1944 embarks Army soldiers and cargo and departs Kure bound for Okinawa part of Group A with BatDiv 1's YAMATO and MUSASHI, CruDiv 4's ATAGO, TAKAO, MAYA and CHOKAI, CruDiv 7's KUMANO, SUZUYA, TONE and CHIKUMA, DesRon 2's NOSHIRO with destroyer SHIMAKAZE, DesDiv 27's AKISHIMO and HAYASHIMO, DesDiv 31's KISHINAMI, OKINAMI and ASASHIMO, DesDiv 32's FUJINAMI, HAMANAMI and DesDiv 27's SHIGURE and SAMIDARE and Group B includes BatDiv 3's KONGO and BatDiv 1's NAGATO, CruDiv 7's MOGAMI and DesDiv 17's URAKAZE, ISOKAZE, HAMAKAZE and YUKIKAZE. On July 10, 1944 arrives Nakagusuku Bay on Okinawa and departs two days later bound for the Philippines.

On July 14, 1944 arrives Manila and departs three days later bound for Singapore. On July 19, 1944 arrives Singapore and the same day to Lingga and conducts training. On August 17, 1944 enters Singapore dry dock No. 3 Dock. On August 29, 1944 undocked and returns to Lingga. On Septmeber 30, 1944 provisioned by KITAKAMI MARU.

On October 18, 1944 departs Lingga bound for Brunei Bay arriving two days later and refuels from Musashi and at 1:00pm launches her E13A Jake equipped with radar to perform anti-submarine search and locate the inbound tankers HAKKO Maru and YUHO Maru.

Operation Sho-1-Go (Victory) - Battle of Leyte Gulf
On October 22, 1944 at 8:20am departs Brunei Bay as part of Operation Sho-1-Go (Victory) as part of Second Section of Force "A" (Central Force) First Mobile Striking Force under the command of Vice-Admiral Takeo Kurita bound for the Philippines and will engage in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

The "Central Force" includes five battleships from BatDiv1: Musashi Yamato, Nagato, Kongō, and Haruna plus CruDivs 4 and CruDivs 5 ten heavy cruisers: Atago, Maya, Takao, Chōkai, Myōkō, Haguro, Kumano, Suzuya, Tone and Chikuma, plus two light cruisers: Noshiro and Yahagi: and DesRon 2 fifteen destroyer.

During the night of October 22, 1944 the force passed Palawan Island and a U.S. submarine screen. On October 23, 1944 crosses the Mindoro Strait and Tablas Strait and on October 24, 1944 enters the Sibuyan Sea.

Battle of the Sibuyan Sea
On October 24, 1944 the force was crossing the the Sibyuan Sea until at 8:10am Musashi and her escorts were spotted by a search aircraft from USS Intrepid (CV-11). Efforts to jam their radio were unsuccessful and the force was reported starting the Battle of the Sibyuan Sea.

On October 25, 1944 participated in the Battle off Samar, Force A exits the San Bernardino Strait at 0030 and proceeds eastward until 0300, then turns SE towards Leyte Gulf then withdraw via the San Bernardino Strait and the Sibuyan Sea. On October 26, 1944 attacked by carrier planes and B-24 Liberators from 307th BG then carrier planes. Yahagi was not damaged.

On October 28, 1944 arrives Brunei Bay on Borneo. On November 8, 1944 departs Brunei Bay to the Pratas Islands. On November 11, 1944 returns to Brunei Bay. On November 16, 1944 attacked by B-24 Liberators escorted by P-38 Lightnings. That same day, DesRon 10 is deactivated. Yahagi becomes the flagship of DesRon 2 and at 6:30pm departs for Japan with HAMAKAZE, URAKAZE, ISOKAZE and YUKIKAZE escorting Yamato, KONGO and NAGATO. The force is joined by escorts KIRI and UME.

On November 24, 1944 arrives Sasebo for refit adding remote power control system for anti-aircraft gun mounts and Type 93 torpedoes with varying depth settings. On December 20, 1944 placed under the command of Captain Tameichi Hara. On December 21, 1944 departs for Hashirajima and remains for ther next three months and conducts training with Yamato.

On February 23, 1945 at Kure DesRon 2's flag is transferred from Kasumi to Yahagi. On March 27, 1945 First Diversion Attack Force refuels in Akizuki Bight, Etajima Island with Yahagi is refueled with 1,000 tons of fuel and awaits orders. On April 1, 1945 E13A Jake from Yahagi flies a mission over Tokuyama Bay to search for and destroy acoustic mines and finds tand destroys two mines.

On April 6, 1945 at 3:20pm departs Mitajiri as part of the Surface Special Attack Force led by Battleship Yamato, with Yahagi escorted by destroyers Isokaze, Hamakaze and Yukikaze, DesDiv 21's Kasumi, Hatsushimo and Asashimo, DesDiv 41's Fuyuzuki and Suzutsuki.

The force will steam via Bungo Channel to .Kyushu then enter the East China Sea. to Okinawa. At 6:30pm a Japanese aircraft spots an enemy submarine USS Theadfin (SS-410) and the force changes course and assumes an anti-submarine formation and the enemy submarine is spotted on the surface by Isokaze. At 9:00pm the force turns to the south. At 9:44pm tracking submarine USS Theadfin (SS-410) reports the presence of the force by radio but the report is intercepted by Yamato and they are aware the force has been detected. Later, USS Hackleback (SS-295) also spots the force but is unable to attack but follows in pursuit.

Battle of the East China Sea
On April 7, 1945 at 2:00am passes Miyazaki on eastern Kyushu and reaches the entrance of the Osumi Kaikyo Channel at the southern end of Kyūshū then enters the East China Sea. At 6:00am launches her E13A1 Jake to patrol and at the conclusion the floatplane lands on Kyūshū. At 6:30am the force is escorted by A6M5 Zeros from 203 Kokutai that patrol in small groups for three and a half hours.

At 8:32am the attack force is spotted by F6F Hellcats from USS Essex (CV-9) and escorting Zeros fail to see them or intercept. At 10:14am spotted by two PBM Mariner flying boats and three minutes later turns to engage, jamming their radios and opens fire. A minute later visual contact is lost as the Mariners enter clouds. Meanwhile, Yamato learns U.S. Navy (USN) Task Force 58 (TF-58) has been spotted 250 nautical miles away and launched carrier planes at the start of what will become known as the Battle of the East China Sea.

At 11:07am Yamato radar spots planes approaching in two groups and the force increases speed to 25 knots and begins a turn and prepares for action. At 11:15am a delayed report is received that 150 enemy planes were spotted from Kikaigashima Island headed northwest. At the same moment, F6F Hellcats arrive over the Attack Force and begin circling as Yamato and Yahagi open fire and begin evasive maneuvers. Meanwhile, two groups of aircraft are approaching with overcast skies and a low cloud base that hampers efforts to visually tracking enemy planes or fire barrages. At 11:29 the force turns to 205° towards Okinawa. At 12:22pm her lookouts spot three Japanese ships heading for Amami Ōshima.

At 12:32pm Yamato lookouts spot the first wave of 280 carrier aircraft including 132 fighters, 50 bombers, 98 torpedo planes from Task Group 58.1 (TG 58.1) and Task Group 58.3 (TG 58.3). Aircraft from USS San Jacinto CVL-30 attack and sink Asashimo lagging behind with engine trouble. At 12:34 Yamato opens fire on the enemy aircraft with her main guns and anti-aircraft guns. At 12:35pm stops zig-sagging and increases speed to 24 knots and fires Sanshikidan anti-aircraft shells from her main guns.

During the Battle of the East China Sea, Yamato was attacked by over a thousand U.S. Navy (USN) carrier aircraft attacking in three waves. The cloud base was low and her anti-aircraft gunners were unable to achieve an adequate barrage overhead. Attacking aircraft also had trouble, fifty-three from USS Hancock never found Yamato and attacking planes were hampered by the same low cloud cover.

First Wave
At 12.37pm the first wave of carrier planes including 132 fighters, 50 dive-bombers and 98 Avenger torpedo bombers descended out of the low cloud base. At 12:40pm the attack began with Yahagi was trying to evade torpedoes at high speed. Six minutes into the battle, hit by a torpedo in the starboard in the vicinity of the engine rooms that caused a loss of power and fires that ignited the aft magazine and to leak oil. Dead in the water, destroyer Isokaze was called to render ai. While the torpedoes were being jettisoned, a bomb hit the No. 2 turret and three more torpedoes hit starboard, fore and aft.

Second Wave
At 1:45pm the second wave of carrier planes began their attack with Yahagi still dead in the water. Quickly hit by several more bombs and torpedoes and began to list to starboard.

Sinking History
At 2:05pm after beign hit by seven torpedoes and at least twelve bombs, capsized and sank at roughly Lat 30°40'N, Long 128° 08' E. Aboard, 445 crew including Captain Nobuichi Uchino are lost. On June 20, 1945 officially removed from the Navy List. Captain Uchino is promoted Rear Admiral, posthumously.

Rescue
Afterwards, survivors including Rear Admiral Komura and Captain Hara are rescued by Hatsushimo and Yukikaze.

References
IJN YAHAGI: Tabular Record of Movement
Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War (1997) pages T7.12-13, T7.15, 533, 559, 571-74, 577-79, 591-93, 597-600 (Yahagi), 598 (photo), 601 (photo), P11.7- P11.8, T11.6, Т11.12-T11.13, T11.23, D11.3, D11.12; 881 (index Yahagi)

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Last Updated
April 13, 2025